Evasion
by luvsanime02
Summary: A mission goes wrong, and Heero focuses on getting herself and another agent out alive. Then the real struggle begins. This is the third story in Navigation, a fem!Heero series.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gundam Wing, and am making no profit off of this fic.

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 **Evasion** by luvsanime02

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Chapter 1

Heero grits her teeth against the pain. Her bicep feels like a trail of fire has licked across its surface, but she knows from experience that it's only a flesh wound caused by the bullet that grazed her arm seconds ago. Beneath her, Agent Parks is clutching his leg and applying pressure to his wound. If she'd been an instant slower in tackling him to the ground, he'd be dead now too.

Damn it, this wasn't supposed to happen. Her arm is burning now, but Parks' wound is more serious. Heero can't even tell from a glance whether or not his femoral artery has been hit. There's a lot of blood, but all she can do right now is help him take off his jacket and use it as a tourniquet. Already, his skin is a couple of shades lighter. She really hopes that he doesn't pass out on her right now, because she's not sure if her injured arm can support him in a fireman's carry.

"What do we do?" he asks her, once his wound is seen to the best that they can.

Of course he's looking to her for answers. Heero's the officer in charge of this mission, and three of her men are already dead, Parks is seriously wounded, and she can't even see where the last two members of her team are. She heard gunshots in their direction a few minutes ago, but there's nothing now, and she hopes that means they've somehow escaped.

This mission had been labeled a low threat. Heero's task had been to lead her team into a warehouse suspected to hold numerous illicit substances that one of the local gangs seems fond of selling for profit. The gang in question can be formidable, but this warehouse is only one of several, and the risk of her team running into any of its members was supposed to be almost non-existent. Especially since an important meeting between their upper members had been scheduled during this time, and should have kept everyone away.

Heero still doesn't know what changed, but her team had been inside for barely ten minutes before they were caught. Agent Sheffer had died first, and then Miller while trying to draw attention away from the rest of their team. Killian fell not even a minute later.

Now, Heero and Parks are behind some high crates, but they're backed into a corner with no easy way to get out. There aren't any windows nearby, and even if there were, Parks wouldn't be able to make the climb up on his bad leg. Heero's impressed enough that he's holding his weight on it, and assumes it's mostly adrenaline that's keeping him upright.

"We need to find the others," she answers finally. No matter what, Heero won't leave until she knows that they've escaped, or been killed in action. Really, she should probably focus on Parks and get him out of here first, but if she does that and the last two members of her team die before she can help them, she'll never forgive herself.

She can't believe this mission has gone to hell so quickly, but she's not dying here. Not like this.

Parks nods, accepting her command, and she's very grateful that he's still willing to trust her. Intellectually, she knows that the deaths of her other team members are not her fault, but her heart feels differently. She can worry about that later, however. For now, she needs to focus on their survival.

The gang members know that some of them are still alive, and Heero has no doubt that they're hunting for them even now. She takes a deep breath, then moves to stand beside Parks and offers him her good shoulder. "We can move around faster if I'm supporting you," she says, leaving out that he looks ready to collapse at any moment, and that she'd rather be nearby to sling him over her shoulder if she absolutely has to. "Come on."

There's really nothing for it but for them to start moving. They can't stay where they are and wait to be ambushed. Heero keeps them low to the ground, ignoring the strain on her arm and the way Parks winces as their movements drag his leg across the floor. He's not making any noise of protest, though, which is good enough for her.

Heero leads them carefully and slowly towards the area where she last heard Dochart and Preston. While she wants to get there quickly, her priority has to be making sure that they're not discovered. She hopes like hell that, after having fire returned on them, the gang members in here are being cautious as well.

"Sir," Agent Parks whispers in her ear. She glances at him, wondering if he's going to pass out and is warning her, but instead he gestures to their left. She looks in that direction, and can see a shadow against the wall of someone moving closer.

Cursing under her breath, Heero shuffles them a few feet further down their path and sets Parks down. Then she doubles back until she's right behind some crates. While she really wants whoever's coming closer to be her missing agents, Heero knows it's not them. She can only hear one person breathing, and their gait is too heavy to be a trained Preventers agent, unless they're injured.

Still, just in case she's wrong, Heero waits until whoever it is walks around the corner of the crates. Instead of shooting the stranger and making noise that would draw more of their pursuers to their location, Heero crouches way down and slides the other way around the crates, until she can get behind him. As soon as the man sees Parks on the ground and starts to aim at him, Heero jumps up and wraps one arm around his neck, her other hand covering his mouth to muffle the shout that struggles to emerge.

It takes several minutes of Heero gritting her teeth against the pain of using her injured arm, but eventually he passes out in her hold and she lowers him carefully to the floor. It's potentially suicidal to leave him alive, but her only other option is to kill him while he's unconscious, and she refuses to do that.

Parks is levering himself upright when she gets to him, and they silently continue on their way. It feels like it takes forever, but isn't even five minutes later when they come across Dochart and Preston's bodies. Heero clenches her jaw, and reaches forward to check their pulses, but she already knows that they're dead.

Dochart is slumped over Preston's body, and Heero can only assume that she died trying to protect him. She always was a quick study, and one hell of a field agent.

There's no time for Heero to scream or hit something in her grief, only for her to hitch Parks upright a little bit more when he starts to sag and then continue on.

When they come to a junction, she has the choice to try for a window or go for the door. Really, it's not much of a choice, though. If she thought before that Parks couldn't manage to climb up to a window, he certainly can't now that his head's clearing and his energy's fading fast. Heero just has to hope that the gang either didn't leave a guard on the door, or only left one or two that she can hopefully deal with by herself.

There's no one in sight when they finally come back around to the front of the warehouse, but that doesn't reassure Heero. She props Parks against a wall and creeps forward, listening intently.

There it is, when she slows her breathing, the sound of feet scuffing against the ground outside. She counts two of them. They're probably stationed just beyond the doors, instead of in here, to avoid being shot from a sniper position by someone inside desperately trying to escape.

Unfortunately, this means that she and Parks are trapped.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Heero now has a choice. She can slip outside alone and deal with the guards, or she can go back and get Parks, and then drag him along with her. Both choices have cons. If she leaves Parks where he is, someone could find him while she's outside. But if Heero doesn't manage to take down the guards silently and quickly, Parks could end up being killed or taken hostage.

Either way, he's a liability to her right now, no matter which option she chooses.

Better to get him out of the warehouse first. Heero can deal with the situation outside as it develops, but she has to at least keep Agent Parks with her. If Parks is killed while she's taking care of their escape route, Heero will always wonder if she could have saved his life.

Before she goes back, though, Heero slowly cracks open the door, waiting to hear a shout. Nothing happens, which tells her a few things. Whoever's been left behind outside to stand watch, they're not professionals. They're obviously either already assuming that no agents will make it out of the warehouse alive, or they think that keeping a lookout means watching for someone trying to enter the building, not leave.

Heero wishes that she could contact Preventers and request backup, but their comms are still being jammed. She'd almost worry that this whole mission is a setup if she wasn't already aware of the tech this gang is capable of getting their hands on. As it is, she's just furious that her team has been been cut off from any help.

Since there's obviously no one paying attention to the door to see if it's ajar, Heero leaves it cracked slightly so that she doesn't have to worry about quietly opening it again while helping Parks. When she shuffles back to him, his face has developed a light sheen of sweat and he's very pale, and she knows that's not good. He could be going into shock from blood loss, or be close to passing out, and neither is going to help them escape. Still, he gamely throws his arm around her shoulders and sets off with her, gritting his teeth whenever his leg is shifted. It's definitely hurting him more than it was before.

Heero wants to ask Parks what his status is, but she doesn't dare speak for fear of being overheard. Instead, she focuses on getting them both close to the door, and then she finally peers outside. There are only two guards that she can see, as she suspected, and even better, both of them are looking away from the door, like they're expecting another Preventers team to arrive at any moment.

She wishes life would be that simple just once.

Heero hates this, but she can't see a way to take them both out silently without killing them. If she was with an agent who wasn't injured, they could each target one of the guards, but Heero doesn't even need to glance at Agent Parks' face again to know that he's in no shape to tackle someone.

Should she use her gun? Heero doesn't want to. Even with a silencer, others nearby will hear the noise. A knife? That would work against one of the guards, but also give the other one time to shoot, probably.

While she's debating internally, they carefully squeeze through the small opening of the door, Heero first. Agent Parks leans against the outer wall of the warehouse and closes the door behind him, then slides down to the ground. Heero frowns, but Parks shakes his head and gestures meaningfully at the guards while he braces his back against the door. There's not much that he can do to help her right now, but he's bracing his weight against the door to buy them a few extra seconds if anyone tries to open it from inside.

She nods. It will have to do. There's nothing nearby that she can use to jamb the door, especially without drawing the attention of the guards. She almost can't believe they haven't noticed something already, but that's why she and Parks have been keeping low to the ground.

Heero pulls out her knife and garrote. She creeps up behind the nearer of the two guards and draws her knife sharply across his throat in one forceful cut. When he drops his gun to grab ineffectually at his slit throat, the other guard turns at the noise, his gun drawing up to fire. Heero throws her knife at him, watching him dodge. As he's distracted, she _moves_ , and he doesn't have enough time to pull his weapon back up and aim before she's behind him and using the garrote, wrapping the wire tight around his throat and yanking him off his feet.

The wire burns her hands even through her gloves, and her injured arm is already trembling with the effort of keeping the wire tight, but Heero grits her teeth and twists harder, not letting up until he stops moving, and then another minute just to be sure he's not faking it.

Finally, she releases the tension, and lets out a long, slow breath as she tries unsuccessfully to shake out the stinging in her hands. She looks over at the first guard, and to her relief, he's already bled out. When she turns back around to Agent Parks, his eyes are wide with surprise, but he nods at her and slowly starts climbing back to his feet.

Heero joins him, and together they limp away from that block of warehouses, sore and injured and feeling like failures. They have to walk several blocks before they can find a cab willing to stop, and even then, the driver eyes their uniforms suspiciously before he'll let them inside. Agent Parks collapses on the seat, now giving voice to a litany of curses that he no doubt only kept quiet before out of necessity. Heero leans her head back tiredly against the seat, despite knowing what germs could be on its surface, and tells the driver to take them to the nearest hospital as fast as he can. She would just go to the infirmary at headquarters, but Parks' leg needs to be seen to by a surgeon.

When they finally arrive, Heero hauls Agent Parks inside and gives orders for him to be looked at immediately. The nurse at the desk takes one look at them and pages someone right away, and Heero politely asks to borrow her phone. She needs to call in and report what's happened, especially before the cab driver talks, or someone who saw them entering the hospital, and the media finds out about the mission's outcome.

She hates this part of her job, but nods as reassuringly as she can at Parks as he's wheeled away and then dials Une's office.

Her secretary answers the phone, because of course an unidentified number is switched over to the outer office instead of Une's personal one. "Preventers Headquarters, Agent Kowoski speaking."

At least the man is no-nonsense. "Agent Wing reporting. I need to speak to Commander Une."

There's a pause, but Kowoski doesn't waste Heero's time by asking questions, only switches her over. It's only a moment more before the phone is picked up again. "What happened?" Une asks briskly.

Heero doesn't know what to say at first, and settles for taking a deep breath. She's in a corner of the ER, near the front desk and away from everyone else, but she could still be overheard so she keeps her message vague and her voice down. "The mission ran into some unexpected obstacles. Agent Parks and I are at the hospital." She looks around, notices the name on a plaque behind the front desk, and tells Une which hospital.

Une will hear in her report everything that Heero can't currently say. Sure enough, there's a sharp inhale of breath over the line. "The others?" Une demands.

There's a lump in her throat that Heero can't get to go back down, no matter how much she swallows. "Negative."

Silence. Heero listens to the bustle in the ER to distract herself from the quiet on the phone while she waits. She knows what will happen next.

"Agent Wing, I'm sending a full SWAT team to that warehouse, and I'm also sending Agent Water to your location. I'll expect a full report to follow."

"Understood."

Heero almost goes to hand the phone back to the receptionist, but before she can lift it away from her ear, Une says, "Heero, I'm glad you made it out safely."

This time, it's her who's quiet for a moment. "Thank you."

She hangs up and hands the phone back, thanks the woman, and then walks over to a seat with the hospital paperwork she's been given. Her hands need to be seen to, and her arm, but she can wait for now. In the meantime, Heero has to figure out how in the hell she's going to explain what happened. She hopes that Sally gets here soon.

Of course, when Sally does stride into the room, she immediately evaluates Heero's condition and then orders a passing nurse to show Heero into a room. Sally has always been good at spotting when Heero's hiding an injury.

"Are you alright?" Sally asks, once they're inside the examining room.

Heero doesn't know how to answer that, especially with the nurse still efficiently cleaning out the wound on her arm and bandaging it, and then moving on to her hands. "About as expected," she finally says, meaning not at all.

The look Sally gives her in response says that she understands completely. They wait until the nurse leaves the room, and then Sally closes the door and leans against it pointedly. "What happened?"

"Is this my official statement?" Heero asks. She wants to ask Sally to check in on Parks' condition instead, but she knows that the older woman won't leave until Heero's answered her questions.

Sally shakes her head in mild exasperation, but pulls out her tablet. "It can be, if you want to get it over with."

Heero nods. She doesn't want to explain everything twice. Sally types as Heero speaks, not interrupting her. In the end, there's not much to tell. Heero doesn't know why they were caught. All she can recount is her and Parks making it out alive. The forensic and SWAT teams will have to discover the rest.

When she's done, Sally puts away her tablet and walks over to where Heero is still sitting on the exam table and pulls herself up to sit beside her. She lays a comforting hand on Heero's shoulder. "I'm sorry this happened."

Heero relaxes a little at Sally's touch, and as though her body was just waiting for that, the fatigue crashes over her until she's fighting to stay upright. Sally's touch becomes a support at her elbow, keeping her steady.

"Me too," Heero says softly. She wants nothing more than to fall asleep, and can barely keep her eyelids open. She hates crashing like this.

Whatever Sally's going to say next is interrupted by her phone ringing, and she picks it up with a noise of frustration, which quickly turns into outright annoyance as she listens to whoever called. "Keep me informed," she snaps out, finally hanging up in anger.

"The media?" Heero asks, though it's pretty obvious.

Sally puts her phone away with a shove. "They showed up just as we were bringing the bodies out of the building. Now it's all over the news. Damn it!"

Heero agrees. This is going to be hell. The media will be outside this hospital soon, if they're not already. "Agent Parks will need a guard," she mutters, fighting a yawn.

Running a hand through her hair, Sally snorts in agreement, and then she wraps one arm around Heero's shoulders. "Come on, you're not going anywhere in this condition. Let's get you to an overnight room before you pass out on me."

Heero wants to protest, but she doesn't have the energy to. Now that she's allowing herself to relax in Sally's familiar presence, the draw of sleep is quickly becoming too much. Her body's always reacted to trauma by shutting down as soon as she's safe, and now is no different.

She allows Sally to steer her into a private room, and is barely still awake when Sally's fingers run through her hair soothingly. "I'll watch over you until someone better comes along," she promises. "Just rest."

There's no better agent than the two of them at Preventers headquarters, and they both know it. Heero allows herself one last sigh, and then she's drifting off into a deep sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When Heero eventually wakes up, she's alone. She lies perfectly still, listening intently, and hears Sally's voice out in the hallway, talking with someone.

Once she's finished completely assessing her surroundings, Heero opens her eyes and sits up. Her fatigue is gone, and while her arm aches and her palms sting, she feels well enough. She looks out the window to gauge the time based on the light, pulling the blinds to the side, and startles. There's a note on the window.

 _Please don't leave any way other than the door, Heero. -Sally_

It surprises a soft laugh out of her, and she lets the blinds fall across the window again. It's late afternoon, which means she was unconscious for about six hours. Stretching, Heero debates jumping out of the window anyway, even though she wasn't planning on it before, just to annoy Sally, but she subsides. Instead, she reaches over and grabs her shoes from where they were placed on the floor nearby, putting them on and then walking over to the door and knocking on it lightly.

Sally's voice pauses, and then she opens the door. "Heero. Thank you for not leaving more abruptly."

Heero snorts, and her lips quirk up slightly. "I want to visit Agent Parks before I leave," she explains. That, and she doesn't want even more attention on her if she exits the hospital through a window and somehow ends up being spotted.

Sally sighs in amusement. "Of course." She turns to the doctor standing beside her and nods. "Excuse me, please."

The doctor returns the nod and walks away briskly, and then Sally gestures Heero down the hallway in the opposite direction. "How is Agent Parks?" Heero asks as they start walking.

Sally shakes her head, but she doesn't look worried. "Better. He nicked an artery and needed a transfusion, and they were worried for a bit about the possibility of gangrene from a lack of proper blood flow, but he was very lucky. The wound was high enough that his blood flow was reduced but could branch off, so it was never absent. He needs to take it easy for awhile, but he should recover full use of his limb in time."

Heero lets the diagnosis settle her nerves, Sally's voice calm and efficient and relaxing. If Sally was actually worried, she wouldn't sugarcoat it any. Not with Heero. "I'm glad," she says.

They come to another room, this one with a Preventers agent standing guard in front of the door. Heero recognizes him as someone she's occasionally passed in the halls, but not actually been on any missions with. He nods to both of them before Sally opens the door without knocking.

"He's probably still unconscious," she explains at Heero's raised eyebrow, but they're both surprised to see Parks' eyes open just a little when they walk into the room. "Oh!" Sally exclaims. "Hold on, I'm going to page your doctor."

While Sally gets a hold of someone to inform them that Parks is awake, Heero walks over to his bed. "How are you feeling?" she asks.

Parks is clearly still out of it, since his only response for a long moment is some slow blinking. "Tired," he eventually says, his voice hoarse. Heero can imagine. "Okay?"

He likely hasn't been informed of his condition yet, she supposes, so Heero nods reassuringly. "Your leg is fine."

But that wasn't what Parks meant, judging by his sudden frown. "No, you."

Oh. Heero sighs, but nods. "I'm fine, too."

As though he was only waiting for that confirmation, Parks' eyes close again, and he's unconscious before the doctor arrives. "He was awake when we came in about two minutes ago," Sally reports from where she's leaning against the wall and staying out of the way of the doctor checking Parks' vitals. "His eyes were tracking, and his memory seems fine."

The doctor nods, not looking up from his examination. "That's certainly good news."

Heero's ready to leave now that she's seen Agent Parks' condition for herself. "I'm checking out," she announces into the silence.

Sally lets out a loud sigh, but she doesn't seem the least bit surprised. "Your doctor wants you to stay overnight. He's worried that you might have a concussion."

" _You're_ my doctor," Heero points out, "and you know that I'm fine."

Shrugging, Sally turns to Agent Parks' doctor, who is watching them both with a slight frown on his face. "You heard the woman. Trust me, if you don't bring her the discharge papers, she'll just sneak out anyway."

Apparently, Parks' doctor is also Heero's. She gives the man a bland expression, and remains unmoved even against his disapproving look. She's used to those. Eventually, sensing that he's not going to win here, the man reluctantly nods. "Fine, then. I'll arrange for a nurse to bring those up."

"Thank you, Dr. Scholt," Sally adds, obviously knowing that Heero won't say anything.

The man is shaking his head as he leaves the room, and Sally grins at her after the door closes. "You're being awfully agreeable right now. Perhaps I _should_ be concerned."

Heero shrugs. "I just don't want to deal with the media until I have to. I assume it's bad."

That wipes the grin from Sally's face, and she nods soberly. "Oh, it's chaos out there. Are you sure you don't want to stay the night?"

That's bad. Heero hides her wince. "No, I'd rather just get it over with." It's not like she'll say anything to them, no matter when she leaves. She never does.

"All right." They wait a few more minutes for a nurse to bring up the release forms. Heero barely glances at them before signing, knowing from experience what they say by now, and then she and Sally are off.

They make sure to leave the hospital through a side entrance, of course, but there's media camped out there too. Heero raises her chin and ignores them, she and Sally walking determinedly and quickly to the parking lot. Cameras are going off like it's a red carpet event, and questions are being shouted at both of them, microphones being shoved in their faces. Heero barely bats an eyelash, too used to pretending that this kind of mass media attention doesn't bother her.

Sally unlocks her car, and then a few seconds later, they're driving away with minimal fuss. Heero expects to be taken back to her apartment, but instead, they're heading to headquarters. Heero sighs, and then turns to raise an eyebrow at Sally, not even bothering to give voice to the obvious question.

To her credit, Sally doesn't bother to pretend ignorance. "I know, but Une asked me to bring you in as soon as you checked yourself out of the hospital."

Heero doesn't know whether to be amused or annoyed by the fact that she's apparently very predictable. She frowns. "That doesn't sound good. Was there a problem with the teams at the warehouse?"

Sally's fingers tap against the steering wheel, but her eyes don't leave the road. "I haven't heard about anything going wrong, but I've been with you. I think Une would have mentioned it, though, if that was the case. Not to mention that I probably would have been stuck fielding calls from at least half a dozen people if something drastic had come up."

Which means she's not being called in to front an extraction team, at least. Still, Heero leans her head against the window. "You couldn't have told me about this before I signed myself out?"

Her annoyed tone makes Sally laugh. "Like that would have stopped you," she chides. She's probably right. "Une sounded upset, so whatever the problem is, I don't think it's anything good."

Damn. While Heero's glad that Sally's being upfront with her about this, she can't help but be even more worried. What could Une possibly need to see her for right now, as soon as she's out of the hospital? Heero clenches her hands into fists, hisses when she aggravates the cuts, and forces herself to relax again.

"Do you think Une will care if we stop somewhere to eat first?" Heero's not actually hungry now that she's wondering about what the head of Preventers needs to see her for so urgently, but she knows that it's been long enough since she's last eaten that she should at least give it a try.

Sally hums contemplatively, and then smiles. "Even if she does, I think we'll stop anyways. Doctor's orders."

Heero smiles back, grateful as always to have the older woman as a trusted friend.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Une raises an eyebrow at them when they finally show up. Heero is positive that the two of them leaving the hospital has already been reported on the news, if it wasn't just streamed live, and Une probably wants to know why they took longer than expected to arrive at headquarters. Sally smiles and holds up a bag containing some flaky almond pastries as an offering and explanation.

Une smiles, but she still looks annoyed about something, and Heero doesn't want to deal with whatever it is. "Agent Water, Agent Wing, please sit down."

They both do. Sally hands over the pastries. "So, who's pissing you off now?"

Heero snorts. Trust Sally to be blunt about it. Une sighs, and then straightens up in her chair, looking every inch the commander of the largest peacekeeping agency in the Earth Sphere. "I'm afraid that would be Internal Affairs."

She's watching Heero closely as she speaks, and the food Heero managed to eat earlier is suddenly sitting uneasily in her stomach. "I see."

The look Une sends her is sympathetic and helpless and frustrated all at once. They all know that Une can't just ignore it when a formal inquiry is filed into an agent's actions. She has no jurisdiction or authority over the Dept. of Internal Affairs. "I'm sorry, Heero. Apparently, your actions as the commanding officer on the scene are being called into question, and the department is requesting a formal inquiry into this morning's events." Une takes a deep breath. "Which means-"

"You can't be serious!" Sally protests, but subsides unhappily at the sharp look Une sends her. Heero doesn't bother protesting. She knows the protocol.

Une steeples her fingers under her chin. "I don't like suspending my best agent, I assure you, but that's exactly what I'm required to do until the investigation into Agent Wing's actions is complete. Heero, I'm _so_ sorry, but you know that my hands are tied here."

Heero's hands are clenching her knees, and she forces herself to loosen her grip. "I understand." She doesn't like it, and it's obvious that Une doesn't either. But five agents are dead. Someone should be held responsible for them, and as the officer in charge of the mission, Heero is the prime target for shouldering the blame.

In situations like this, Heero remembers how much she hates politics. Really, she doesn't know how Relena handles bullshit like this day in and day out.

Sally is practically vibrating with fury. "They can't throw Heero under the shuttle for this mess. I was the senior agent who assigned her to lead this mission, and I'm the one who categorized it under a low-threat rating based on the intelligence provided. I'm the one Internal Affairs should be speaking to."

Heero and Une exchange a smile, even in this situation. "They will speak to you," Une says. "During the investigation into Agent Wing's actions."

The snort Sally responds with is part annoyance, part skepticism. Heero can relate. "I'm going to formally protest this inquiry."

"No," Heero says, shaking her head when Sally looks at her askance. "There's no point. The investigation has already started, I'm sure. Internal Affairs is probably reading over my statement and going over what forensics has found by now. You filing a protest won't stop them from looking into this."

Une sighs heavily. "As much as I hate to admit it, Heero's right." She then fixes Heero with a firm look. "I've already registered my own protest, but considering the fact that there were casualties, Preventers would have looked into this mission anyways. So if you investigate on your own, Heero, please don't cause too much of a mess for me to clean up afterwards."

In other words, when Heero does look into this later, Une would appreciate it if Heero could keep her temper and not personally go after whoever filed the initial complaint. Heero nods in response to Une's request. There'd be no point in planning some sort of petty revenge. Like Une said, the mission would have been looked into no matter what, although Heero herself most likely wouldn't have been suspended.

Just thinking about the hassle of dealing with Internal Affairs questioning her every action during that mission is making Heero's head start pounding. She sighs. "I'm heading home," she announces. It's not like there's any reason for her to be at headquarters now if she's suspended.

Une nods. "That would be best, yes. Go home, get some more rest, and… relax for a few days."

Sally throws her head back and laughs at that, while Heero sends Une a disgruntled look. Une obviously wants Heero to treat her suspension as a vacation of sorts, but she isn't the type to sit at home and relax, and they all know it.

It's as they're both getting ready to leave the room that Heero realizes Sally is planning on driving her home. She sends her friend a fond but exasperated look. "My jeep's in the parking garage," Heero reminds her. "Since I'm not going to be here for a few days, or likely longer, I'm definitely driving it home today."

Sally hesitates, but she eventually nods in acceptance. "All right. I suppose you can get home by yourself, but be careful on the roads."

Heero rolls her eyes. "I do know how to drive," she counters. They've had this talk before. "I even obey most of the traffic laws."

"Most of them," Sally mutters under her breath.

Une waves Heero out, looking amused. She's a worse driver than Heero when she wants to be, which they're all aware of.

When Heero gets home, she stands in the middle of her apartment and just breathes for a few minutes. This time yesterday, she hadn't been responsible for the deaths of five agents under her command. She shakes her head in a failed attempt to get rid of those thoughts.

Heero feels wide awake after sleeping earlier, and she doesn't know what she wants to do. She settles for taking a quick shower and then curling up on her couch with her laptop. Time to see what's going on with the investigation.

It doesn't take more than a few minutes for Heero to hack into the Preventers database. It would take longer, but she designed a lot of the program personally, and besides, she's hacked into it before. As it is, she almost wishes that it does take her longer to scroll through the information Internal Affairs has gathered.

This is worse than Heero thought it would be. Someone filing an inquiry against her, she can understand, after what happened. She doesn't like it, but she's prepared to deal with it. But this?

Her official report on the events of this morning is missing.

Heero grits her teeth and sets out to find it. She knows that Sally typed up and sent the report electronically, and Heero doubts there's a paper copy floating around anywhere, so she has to dig deeper, into the back-up files of the system. If she has to, Heero will ask Sally for her tablet, and find a copy of it on there.

She eventually tracks the report down, though, before she's forced to call Sally. It's been misfiled into the Department of Finances, and Heero knows that can't be an accident. With Sally being the one who sent the report, there's no way it ended up buried in another department's records unless it was deliberate.

The anger Heero felt earlier while in Une's office comes back to her now. This clearly isn't some agent's professional concern about the management of that mission today. This is a personal attack against her. Someone in Preventers wants to see Heero lose her job, and badly.

Heero makes sure to re-file the report with the correct department, and she also sends a copy to Internal Affairs, subrouting it through several other departments first. Heero also prints out her own copy, and one for Une, just in case it goes 'missing' again, and more permanently this time.

That done, Heero looks through the actual information present in the report for Internal Affairs. She reads what forensics has found, skimming the details of the five agents' deaths and ignoring the pain that seeing their names printed causes her as best she can, when something catches her eyes. It's a link to the original mission details, which Heero decides to check is still there, in case it's been 'misfiled' as well.

To her relief, the file comes up like normal, and Heero almost closes out of it without another thought before she sees what's wrong, and then she stares in disbelief. The mission is listed as a high-threat priority. Heero knows damn well that it wasn't originally, and Sally will be able to corroborate this, but that's not the point. Someone is sabotaging her chances of being cleared by Internal Affairs, and doing a very good job of it, too.

Even worse, Heero doesn't know who, or why. All that's here is her own report, the one from forensics, and the mission briefing. There's nothing more to tie a specific agent to it.

Heero checks all of the paperwork again, but there's no name listed for whoever got in touch with Internal Affairs in the first place. It was probably through a political or personal connection, then, instead of them going through the proper channels.

It isn't even until Heero finally closes out of everything in frustration that she realizes what else is missing. There's nothing about Agent Parks' current condition in the report, or his actions during the mission. It's almost as though his entire presence during the mission is being erased. Heero's suddenly very relieved that Sally has posted a guard on Parks' door in case the media tries to sneak into his room. No one is going to be able to attack Agent Parks while he's still in the hospital.

In the next moment, Heero berates herself for that kind of thinking. Tampering with evidence that pertains to her is one thing, but attacking another Preventers agent would just invite trouble and backlash onto whoever's behind this. No, Parks is probably perfectly safe, and Heero takes a deep breath as she forces herself to calm down. It's more likely that Agent Parks' omission in the report so far is someone trying to keep Internal Affairs focused on her, and not on the one agent whose life she did manage to save.

She's still angry. Heero has always done her job to the best of her ability, and she hates to think that there's a fellow agent who is using this mission's tragedy as an excuse to persecute her.

Heero sends the changed mission briefing to Une and Sally. They won't like this either. She also makes sure to read through the forensics report more thoroughly, even though it's the last thing she wants to do right now, in order to make sure that nothing else has been tampered with. Thankfully, all of the information is correct as far as she can tell.

Then again, five agents dead is damning enough.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

In hindsight, perhaps Heero should have worded her situation better when she informs Relena. As it is, the next morning, Heero's frustration gets the better of her and she sends Relena a quick text before she goes out for a run.

 _H: I'm being investigated._

Heero definitely shouldn't be surprised that after she gets back home and showers, she checks her phone only to find five new texts from Relena.

 _R: What?!_

 _R: What happened?_

 _R: Do you need my help?_

 _R: What is Une thinking?!_

 _R: I'm going into a meeting now, but answer me, Heero!_

Heero can't help but smile at her friend's obvious concern. She debates calling, but knows that the chance Relena's keeping her phone on in order to hear when Heero texts her back is high, so a call would be too disruptive. Not that Relena would mind, she's sure, but Heero doesn't want to damage her friend's standing in the eyes of the other ESUN parliament members.

Ugh, more politics.

Heero goes into her kitchen to make a rolled omelet, and texts Relena back before setting her phone on the counter for easier access. She has no doubt that Relena will text her again.

 _H: Went for a run._

She barely has the time to get the eggs out of her fridge before her phone vibrates. She waits until she's done whisking them and preheating the pan before she looks at the message.

 _R: Of course you did. What's going on?_

Heero pours the eggs into the pan, and then her hands are free for a few minutes.

 _H: I was suspended until the investigation is over._

And then, knowing Relena also cares about the events leading up to that, Heero quickly sends another text.

 _H: Mission went bad._

This time, Relena doesn't send anything else for a few minutes. She's obviously thinking over all of the implications of the message.

 _R: The one on the news._

It's not a question, Heero knows. Still, she answers.

 _H: Yes._

She finishes rolling her omelet, and takes the plate into the living room. Heero never bothers actually sitting down at the kitchen table to eat unless someone else is over, and even then, it depends on who. She takes a minute to check her email, not surprised to find messages from both Une and Sally.

Une's message is to the point and professional.

 _Thank you for bringing this discrepancy to my attention, Agent Wing. I will be bringing this up with Internal Affairs._

Not that it will do much good, Heero knows. While Internal Affairs has to be impartial, and will certainly enter the correct information into their documentation, they will take it with a grain of salt. After all, while hiding documents could easily be an attempt to sabotage Heero's chances of keeping her job, it could also be a ploy to try and keep her out of trouble. The whole point of 'misplacing and changing' the documents wasn't just to discredit Heero, but mostly to sow doubt about their authenticity into the minds of the Board of Professional Review of Internal Affairs if the original documents were ever found, as they had been.

It's absolutely aggravating. There's nothing Heero can do to prove that she did her job correctly. Her record of arrests and completed missions should speak for itself.

She's still worried.

With these thoughts turning around and around in her head, Heero opens Sally's email next.

 _I am THIS close to mandating another physical exam for all agents. A thorough one._

Heero laughs, which is exactly the reaction Sally was going for, she's sure. Not that the older woman won't follow through on her threat if she gets angry enough. The physical exams last year were the bane of every agent's existence, Heero included, as much as she appreciates and trusts Sally's professionalism. The idea of everyone else having to suffer through another exam this year, instead of the two-year wait they're expecting, makes her smirk. Too bad she's suspended right now, and won't have to get one if Sally does implement her threat.

Sally is devious when she wants to be. It's definitely one reason why they've become such good friends.

Her phone vibrates twice before she can think up a decent response, and Heero checks it.

 _R: I'm going to be stuck in meetings all day._

 _R: Want to have dinner later?_

Heero sighs. Although she does want to see Relena again, the other woman always looks so drained after a day of sitting through a storm of meetings, and the last thing Relena needs to do after a tiring day is listen to Heero complain about work. Still, she knows that Relena won't mind, and that in fact her friend would probably be upset with Heero if she didn't explain everything tonight. Neither of them even think of putting the details in a text message. That would be a very bad idea.

 _H: Sure. Text me when you're free._

She's learned from past instances that trying to schedule dinner with Relena in advance nearly always ends with Relena late and extremely apologetic. Sometimes, it seems like the other parliament members somehow know that Relena has plans and purposely stretch out their talks in order to make her late. Or, at least, that's how Relena feels about it. Nevertheless, they've gotten into the habit of Relena letting Heero know when she's finally free, and then they agree on a place to go eat.

Heero looks over her other emails and fires off a quick thanks to Sally, but there's nothing else interesting. She turns on the TV, taking care to stay away from the news channels, already knowing what she'll see and having no desire to watch the media talk about the mission and its consequences. However, Heero quickly realizes that there's nothing entertaining on.

Relena messages her again, which Heero isn't expecting. Relena must be bored, or on a break.

 _R: So what are you doing now?_

Heero looks around her apartment for inspiration, and sees nothing.

 _H: Getting ready to crawl under my jeep and hope there's something wrong with it somewhere._

It's the first thought that pops into her head that she knows will get a reaction out of Relena.

 _R: …You're bored out of your mind already, aren't you?_

While Heero debates denying it, there's really no point. She's never been the type to sit still. If she's not at work, she's usually traveling for her job. It goes without saying that Heero is discouraged from simply taking off right now while the investigation is going on.

 _H: Yes._

She owns almost no movies, and has no idea what she'd watch even if she did. Her idea of entertainment usually doesn't align with what's popular, due to most of them being action movies that make her cringe or romances that make her want to fall asleep just to escape the banality.

Heero's already gone for a run, her apartment's clean, and everyone she's friends with who are on Earth is currently at work. Where she would be too if not for this pointless inquiry. She wonders if she'll even be allowed to attend the deceased agents' funerals, and decides that she'll go no matter what Preventers would prefer her to do.

There aren't even any plants in Heero's apartment, and she doesn't own a pet. One of the disadvantages of being out in the field more often than not is that she doesn't think it's right for her to own anything that requires daily attention from her in order to survive.

Maybe she should buy a cactus. Or a tree? She could practice bonsai. There must be some tree species that would survive if Heero's absent for a few days in between taking care of it. The idea actually interests her a little bit. She even has a small balcony that she never uses.

She's researching different species of small trees on her laptop when Relena texts her again.

 _R: Want to work security for me?_

Heero stares at the message. Where had that come from? She's been in Relena's employ before, of course, and even assigned by Une to guard her once or twice after Heero officially became a Preventers agent, but Heero can't just be hired by Relena when she's already working somewhere else.

Or can she? Heero wonders if there's actually anything in the rules about that. Even if there is, she's pretty sure that Une would still okay it. And Heero _is_ bored. She's actually sitting here looking up trees, and it's only been a couple of hours. She dreads thinking of what she might end up actually buying if Internal Affairs decides to take a week or two with their investigation. Which they might.

Realizing that it's either working for her friend or becoming dangerously bored and filling her apartment with stuff she doesn't actually want, Heero knows there's really only one option if she wants to keep her sanity in the coming weeks.

 _H: Yes, please. Thanks._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

While working security for Relena is more interesting to Heero than sitting around her apartment and staring at the walls, there's not really a lot that she actually needs to do. Relena's current security team has worked with Heero before, and it only takes her about an hour to look through their setup and check to make sure everything's on schedule.

Of course, it's all fine. Relena's team is very competent, and most of them have been working with her for years. Really, if Heero was here under Preventers orders, she would almost consider this a vacation. Since Heero doesn't have anything else to do, she shadows a few patrols around the building, pointing out possible high-ground sites for snipers while listening to the chatter of the security team over the comms.

She's amused to learn that they've started taking bets on how early in the day Relena will be forced to intervene in an argument between other ESUN officials in order to get the current debate back on track, and also on how frequently throughout the day that Relena will have to repeat her interventions.

Heero doesn't place a bet, because she knows that Relena will tease her about it later if she bets wrong, but she does pay attention to the video surveillance of the conference, watching Relena sit perfectly still while two of the other parliament officials both stand up and start gesturing at each other animatedly. No doubt one of them is arguing his right to be a more pompous ass than the other one. Once again, Heero's glad that she doesn't have to sit there and listen, and pretend to be interested in what they're saying.

"What is this conference about?" she asks, directing her query at no one in particular. The ESUN meets so often during this time of the year that, even if Heero wanted to keep up with it, she'd have likely lost track of their schedule by now.

One member of the team, Ket, laughs, leaning back in his chair. He looks bored, and Heero can only hope that this doesn't affect his work performance any. "Who can keep track? It seems like they complain about something new every day."

Heero frowns, but before she can chastise the man on his lack of knowledge when this is his regular job, another team member throws Ket a sardonic look. His name is Raul, and Heero likes his work ethic much better. "It would help if you paid attention to the briefings, Ket." To Heero, he adds, "They're arguing about export taxes to the colonies. Apparently, it's still 'too expensive' for them to ship items into space, never mind that in the past five years alone, the taxes on imports to Earth have been lowered exponentially. Can't have them paying too much to get their own goods, after all."

Heero wonders how many imports they could be getting from the colonies anyways, who need all the products they produce, usually. Importing and exporting in between the separate colony clusters is a much higher-traffic area of commerce than merchandise being shipped from the colonies to Earth.

Either way, Heero nods in thanks to Raul, and feels better about Relena's security detail knowing that not all of them have their heads up their own asses. Heero is also pretty sure that the thread of bitterness she hears in his voice means Raul's colony-born like her, and she sympathizes. She's annoyed too now that she knows what the parliament officials in the conference room are arguing about. It's not as though the colonies import cargo from Earth because they want to. Rather, Heero knows that if they could long-term, most of them would be quite happy to annex from the planet for good. It could work for a couple of decades, even, especially with inter-colony trading, but eventually, the colonies would need resources to survive that still have to be acquired from Earth.

She doesn't have to ask why the only parliament officials in the conference room are the ones from Earth, either. Technically, there's nothing illegal about them excluding all of the colonial representatives, considering they're discussing lowering Earth's taxes only, but Heero knows that's not why the colonies aren't being represented in these talks. Colony representatives are never present for discussions when Earth officials are trying to raise colony taxes, just like Earth representatives are never present at colony conferences considering Earth taxes.

Though it would certainly save a lot of time and effort if they'd all just get together in the same room and argue it out, in Heero's opinion. Maybe after they all yelled at each other openly, they could finally sit down and iron out lasting agreements once and for all, ones that wouldn't change according to every new parliament official's whims.

"Which colony cluster are they discussing?" Heero asks. Another aspect of colonial life that she knows aggravates the Earth representatives is that, while they all have to form together into one parliament and make planet-wide decisions, each colony cluster has its own government that is its own law. If Earth wants to trade with L2, for instance, they have to deal with the L2 government itself. And if they want to trade with L4, they have to deal with L4's government separately. Whereas if L2 or L4 want to trade with Earth, they only have to make an agreement with one overarching council.

Heero takes a bit of colony pride in how annoyed the Earth parliament members are over this system, but even she can admit that it's faulty. Not only must each of the colony clusters have agreements with Earth, but also different ones with each other, and if one colony cluster manages to acquire a better agreement with Earth than all of the others, reasonable agreements between them and the other colonies can be next to impossible to actually agree on and adhere to.

Of course, the ones who suffer aren't the men Heero is watching dispassionately while they mutter and glare at each other, but the common people, mostly from the colonies. It's not fair.

"All of them," Raul answers.

Wait, what? Heero jerks her head back towards him, incredulous. "What do you mean?" she demands. His statement makes no sense.

Raul winces, obviously noticing her ire, and shrugs helplessly. "They're discussing a possible increase on all taxes for the colonies. Probably Mars too," he adds, while Heero's still staring at him in disbelief.

That's insane. She can't even imagine the political backlash, but she knows it wouldn't be good. Hell, if they actually try to implement an increase like that, Heero _expects_ the colonies to completely annex.

Why hasn't Relena mentioned this? Something this important is going to have severe ramifications-

The answer comes to her then, and Heero abruptly relaxes. "They'll never come to an agreement, all of them."

Lucy, another member, snorts. "Nope," she says cheerfully. "According to the constitution, a vote that affects all of the colonies has to be unanimous."

Left unsaid is the acknowledgement that no one in that room can agree on anything, let alone all of them agreeing on one thing. Heero glances again at the video feed. Everyone's sitting down, but no one looks happy. Relena is shuffling the papers on her desk, and is clearly struggling to find some way to occupy her mind.

Wait. "You said something about Mars, though, right?"

Mars, being an independent government, is perhaps in the most amount of danger from these talks. Ten years isn't enough time for the planet to be completely terraformed, and they rely heavily on imports from both Earth and the colonies. If their taxes are increased…

It's not as though they have anything to spare, let alone money.

At that, Raul grimaces. "It wasn't on the agenda, but you gotta wonder how long it'll take them to realize that they're missing an opportunity there."

True. Although, most of the ESUN tends to prefer to pretend that the Mars government doesn't exist at all. Heero remembers Relena practically gloating one day about how annoyed all of her fellow parliament members were when they were forced to video conference with her brother. It was amusing watching all of them try to posture and affect superiority while speaking to Zechs. Heero assumes it was a wasted effort, what with Zechs working for Treize Khushrenada for so many years. Zechs has to be used to grand posturing from repeated exposure, to say nothing of his own attitude. Really, the image of those men trying to act more arrogant than Zechs is enough to bring a smile to Heero's face. What an exercise in futility.

Even so, Heero definitely doesn't like the implications of Earth's parliament members possibly deciding to antagonize Mars like that. Knowing Zechs, he'd rather start another war first before he lets them run all over him and his people, and that's the last thing everyone needs to deal with. A lack of mobile suits on Mars (at least, Heero hopes there's a lack of MS on Mars) wouldn't make Zechs hesitate at all. After all, the materials to make them can still be easily acquired in space, even this long after the Eve Wars. All Zechs would really need is a good contract with the Sweepers.

Well, there's nothing Heero can do about that hypothetical situation right now. She resolves to bring it up with Relena later. No doubt her friend's already aware of the possibility. In the meantime, Heero starts another walk around the building. More than looking for assassins or persons of interest, she's searching for bugs or surveillance other than the official ones. It'd be just like those officials in there to be so focused on a possible, but extremely unlikely, threat to their lives that they'd completely overlook the actual threat of blackmail and subterfuge.

Really, they're lucky Heero's on their side. Or on Relena's side, in any case. Otherwise, threatening them would be only too easy.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Heero isn't really expecting to hear from Preventers again until she's called in by the Board of Professional Review of Internal Affairs, but Sally calls her and asks to meet up. Heero's happy enough to see Sally, even though it feels a little awkward now that they're not exactly coworkers anymore.

Sally smiles at Heero when she walks into the restaurant. The place is surprisingly chic for both of them, but in a relaxing way, and the layout makes it easy for them to keep a line of sight on every entrance into the place at all times, a habit Heero's never gotten out of, and she knows Sally is the same.

"Why this place?" Heero asks as she sits down.

Sally already has a glass of wine, but she seems to be sipping it slowly instead of draining it, so Heero assumes she's not upset. That's good. "Lauren recommended it," Sally answers, after taking another taste of her drink.

Lauren is another agent in Preventers, and often assists Sally and Une in coordinating missions. Heero respects her, but doesn't know her personally. She does know that Lauren and Sally have become good friends, though.

Heero opens the menu to look through the choices, glad to see that they're not all heavy dishes with pasta and red meat. She decides on something with fish and rice, and sets the menu back down. "How are things going?"

What she really wants to know is what's going on with the investigation, and if Agent Parks is out of the hospital yet, but she doesn't ask directly. If Sally can tell her anything new, she will.

Sally sighs. "I don't really know, beyond the general."

Heero's not surprised, but she is slightly disappointed. "What about Agent Parks?" If Heero can't get much information about the investigation, at least she can ask about him.

Her question makes Sally smile again, and Heero knows that he's fine before she answers. "He's doing well. He's resting at home, and should be back on desk duty soon, if not tomorrow."

Heero's given up on figuring out how long most people are expected to spend recuperating. All she knows is that her time after self-destructing Wing was the longest she's ever had to deal with an injury, and trying to regain full motility after was an exercise in patience. She hates being patient.

The look Sally gives Heero when she remains quiet is amused and knowing. "Medically, I'd day he should wait longer until he comes to work, and I wish Une would enforce a week of paid leave, at least, but he wants to return to Preventers as soon as possible."

Heero nods. She can understand that feeling only too well. "Same here," she admits.

"I hope you've been resting up yourself, Heero," Sally admonishes her.

The waiter comes by to take their orders before she can respond, and habit holds her tongue until the two of them are alone again. "I have," she says. Then, before Sally can call her out on that, Heero explains more. "Relena's letting me work security for her during the conferences this week."

At that, Sally laughs softly. "I'm actually relieved," she admits. "I was worried that you would become too bored, and get into something you probably shouldn't."

Like Heero has before, and they both know she has, so Heero doesn't bother to deny it. "I lasted a couple of hours," she admits, her voice wry.

"Well," Sally says, amused and sympathetic, "that's pretty much about as well as I would do, I'll admit." Heero knows, whatever Sally says, that she's not as bad as Heero can be. Heero remembers that Sally's gone on a vacation at least twice since Heero's joined Preventers, which is twice more often than Heero has.

Heero shakes her head. "I think Relena felt sorry for me." They share a laugh over that, and then Heero leans forward, hoping to convey her seriousness. "What's going on?" she asks bluntly.

It's not that the two of them meeting up for a meal is unusual, but it's usually an extension of a long day at Preventers, when they both desperately need to unwind. Heero doesn't think that Sally asked her here just to chat.

Sally puts down her glass and crosses her arms over her chest, frowning. "I don't like how long Internal Affairs is taking," she admits.

Heero frowns. "I didn't know they were taking all that long." Not that she has any previous experience in dealing with them.

Sally shakes her head slightly. "While they would have had to wait until Agent Parks was out of the hospital to question him anyway, since he's the only other eyewitness, they've still been stalling with the rest of the investigation. All they've done is read through the information, mostly from forensics. They haven't called me or you in to question us, and they should have by now."

Well, damn. That reminds Heero of something she noticed when she was looking through the case. "Did you know that there's no official complaint filed against me?" The look on Sally's face says that no, she hadn't known, and she doesn't like this fact any more than Heero does. "I assume that someone's using their connections to slow down the investigation, then," she continues.

Sally lets out a disgusted sigh. "This is so aggravating! A mission going to shit like this is bad enough for everyone, especially with the media coverage calling us a 'terrorist force' right now, but to top it off, someone's actively trying to get rid of one of our top agents!"

Although she's not shouting, Sally's still being loud enough that Heero's wary of eavesdroppers. She sends Sally a cautious look, and the older woman relaxes her shoulders consciously, trying to regain her equilibrium.

"I know," Heero agrees quietly. She doesn't need to be told that it's not fair, and also not the kind of publicity that Preventers needs right now. Heero can only imagine how annoyed Une is, since she's the one who has to answer to their financial backers. "…They're really saying that about Preventers?"

It doesn't bother Heero personally all that much. Whether she's being labeled as a terrorist or not has never dictated her actions. But she can understand that Une would very much hate it.

Sally takes another sip of her wine. "Oh yes," she says, calm again. "They're getting quite a lot of mileage out of that one, actually." She pauses, eyeing Heero keenly. "Haven't been watching the news?"

Heero snorts, shaking her head. "Why bother?" It's not like they're reporting the facts. She hesitates, but asks the one question burning in her mind the most right now. "What do you think IA is going to decide?"

She can tell that Sally's not happy about the question, since she takes a few minutes to chew over her answer. "You won't be fired, I don't think," she answers slowly. Sally looks around at the other diners, frowning absently in thought. "Your record is too good for that. And what went wrong with this mission, your team being ambushed, isn't your fault. The intel we had gave us the impression that the place would be empty that day. Unforeseen complications can't be blamed on the agents involved."

Sally pauses, and Heero waits for the bad news. "I don't know that they'll let you continue on with fieldwork."

Heero stares at her. She wasn't expecting that. "You think they'll put me in IT or something?"

After a moment, Sally shrugs. "I don't know, but my guess is that they'll either reassign you to another department, or maybe even out to one of the colony branch offices instead."

Under the table, Heero's hands clench into tight fists. She just wants to return to her job, but what Sally's trying to tell her is that she probably won't be able to, one way or the other. "That's worse than I hoped their decision would be."

Sally sends her another sympathetic look. "I know. You might want to think about just quitting if they can't get their heads out of their asses soon enough."

That's not an option that Heero wants to think about just yet. "Why?"

Again, she hesitates, but Sally's never been one to back down from an uncomfortable situation. "Because even if they let you come back to our department, your reputation's going to be permanently shot," she explains slowly. "You're one of the most reliable people I've ever met, Heero. I'd depend on you, no matter what the situation. But an average Preventers agent? They're going to listen to the gossip, and look at your record of being investigated by Internal Affairs and being in charge of a mission with five casualties, and they're not going to want to work under you. Whoever got IA involved might be doing this out of spite, and they probably are, but you have to consider that they might also be genuinely worried about being sent out under your command after this."

The words hurt, and Sally knew that they would, but she still says them because Heero asked for her honest opinion. Heero's quiet, not sure what to say in response. This whole situation is turning out to be a lot more complicated than she'd been counting on.

Sally waits a few minutes, letting Heero think, and then she switches their conversation to the latest batch of new recruits, casually bringing up that maybe Heero should also think about becoming a full-time instructor if she wants. Sally keeps the conversation on lighter topics for the rest of their meal.

Heero listens, and occasionally utters a comment or two, but when she leaves the restaurant, a heavy feeling has dropped into her stomach. She doesn't like any of this.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The next day, back behind the scenes while Relena is stuck in even more pointless meetings, Heero contemplates being a member of Relena's security team permanently if she actually quits Preventers. The thought's not appealing. Heero respects her friend, but admits to herself that dealing with the ESUN all of the time would drive her insane.

Heero walks around with a different member of the security team whenever they switch rotations, mostly for the chance to stretch her legs instead of sitting in front of the monitors. She likes most of them well enough, but that doesn't mean Heero wants to listen to each of them complain about Earth's parliament members all of the time. And what does Relena even do when she's not involved in these conferences? From what Heero knows, a lot of politics. Sure, Heero could insert herself into this security team easily, but would she be happy here, in the long run?

Not really. Which wouldn't exactly bother Heero, except that she's getting bored again already and that's not a good sign for the future. Besides, Relena would figure her out eventually, and she'd make Heero quit and find something to do that she did enjoy.

No, as much as Heero would be fine stopping by from time to time and making sure Relena's security team is running efficiently, she doesn't want to sign on as a permanent member. Ideally, what Heero wants is to stay at Preventers, but she has to acknowledge now that her ability to do so depends mostly on what decision Internal Affairs comes to regarding her career.

Heero hates that she's not in control of her own job right now. That knowledge grates more than anything else.

But while she's waiting, Heero's busy with other things. She attends the mass funeral for the fallen agents, and though some people mutter, no one from the families comes over to yell at her, which is what she's most worried about. Sally stands beside her, and Agent Parks is there. He's happy to see her, and thanks her for saving his life, though he does so quietly after the bodies have been laid to rest. The day is emotionally exhausting, and for once, Heero is very glad not to have to go into Preventers later.

The next day, no one on Relena's security team says anything to her about it, even though she assumes they have to know what happened, which is another mark in their favor. If nothing else, at least they're all discreet.

Briefly, Heero considers Sally's suggestion about becoming an instructor to the new Preventers recruits, but the problem with that is that Heero's an awful teacher and she knows it. Either everything comes to her easily and without effort, which means she has no idea how to help those who are struggling, or the ways Heero was taught something are not ethically applicable. All told, it's not a good idea, and Heero's not really interested anyway.

She supposes that she can stick it out in IT, if they reassign her there, or deal with it if they pack her off to the colonies somewhere. Heero would miss Relena, and Sally and Une, but Heero loves space, and wouldn't mind the change of pace. Also, at a different office, she could still be a field agent, traveling and going on missions, which is what she prefers.

All Heero can do right now is wait and see what Internal Affairs decides, and plan for as many eventualities as she can think of. In the meantime, Heero's job is to keep Relena safe and secure during these conferences. For now, that will have to be enough.


End file.
